Category: Change Management

As an experienced change management practitioner, I have always felt that the premise of change management involved an organization moving from a current state to some future improved state. We would then utilize an improvement-based methodology (i.e. Lean, Six Sigma, TQM) to identify waste or opportunities, and their ultimate removal would deliver improved business results.

So what is the premise of transformation? Is it the same as change management? I believe it is not the same, or at least, not always the same.

Transformation: The Premise

Transformation seems to be more about doing things differently, and that is inherently not the same as merely improving things.

This transformation stuff feels like a real game changer to me. So I think it will be important to start harnessing our collective efforts in new ways. And what better way to do this than to adopt some new principles to guide us on our journey through this new reality. I am offering three for your consideration, basically I just want to get the ball (and conversations) rolling.

Transformation: The Principles

Bury the Past (and Present)

Transformation Principle: Spend less time discussing the past/present state and more time defining and moving toward the future state.

This first principle arose after witnessing the copious amount of time that SME (subject matter experts) spend reviewing, documenting and analyzing their current processes as an initial step to defining a yet to be determined future state. It simply struck me as a step that could be shortened or entirely eliminated if an organization is seeking innovative solutions or looking to do things differently.

The reason for this is simple:

The past/present is not necessarily the basis for the future

People will take forward their expertise but not necessarily their practices

People will need to learn to apply their expertise differently and find new ways of doing their work

In order to be successful, people will need to let go of the past/present and accept that the future will be an entirely new reality for everyone. Basically we all need to leap (i.e. leap of faith towards a yet to be determined future state) in order to actively contribute to this new reality.

2. Leverage People’s Strengths

Transformation Principle: Assign fewer tasks with the intent of stretching or developing people and more tasks according to people’s strengths and intrinsic wiring.

This second principle came to light after seeing so many of our clients asking some great questions about the future, and being motivated to do things differently, yet struggling to come up with the answers required to move forward.

I believe that many of us are not overly comfortable with abstract and conceptual tasks. Sometimes I refer to these tasks as blank page exercises. We are either wired for them or not.

Where possible, in this new reality, we will need to fight our tendency to ‘just’ delegate, and embrace the concept of the ‘right’ delegation.

The reason for this is simple:

People will need to accept that some are intrinsically wired for strategy and innovation, and others are not

We need to provide them with the structure and tools necessary in order for them to be successful

We need to support them more and plan for the additional time it takes to build new skills and competencies

In order to be successful, people will need to better understand their team’s strengths and employ their resources to the best overall effect. Let’s face it, in this new reality, or at least in the race toward the new reality, time is of the essence. It just makes sense to play to people’s strengths and get things done well in a timely and efficient manner.

3. Trust People’s Instincts

Transformation Principle: Spend less time on absolute risk elimination and more time following people’s instincts.

This third and last principle is a recurring thought I have during many meetings that I attend. We have become accustomed to silencing that inner voice we all have, and have not practiced enough the necessary art of saying what we think (and what we already intuitively know).

I believe that we need to take more personal risks and cut through the lengthy discussions by making more recommendations that require concrete decisions.

The reason for this is simple:

People will need to accept that absolute elimination of risk is counter-intuitive to achieving innovation.

People will need to take more personal risks and make more clear recommendations for decision.

People will need to get everyone pulling in the same innovative (and intuitive!) direction.

In order to be successful, people will need to trust their instincts more and better harness their collective energy in new and different ways. But the catch here is that everyone needs to adopt this principle, otherwise some brave individuals will find themselves on the end of some pretty strong opposition.

Transformation: The Conclusion

In closing, I think that we should all adopt some shared principles to guide our transformation journeys. I have offered three for your consideration, and I hope that they may inspire you to have these types of conversations with your own teams. Transformation is indeed a new reality for us all, so our ability to harness all efforts, and build momentum and enthusiasm will not only increase our immediate chances for success, but it will better prepare us to deal with the next major change or transformation that is surely lurking around the next corner.

“When people see and feel the buildup of momentum, they will line up with enthusiasm.” (re: The Flywheel Effect from Jim Collins, Good to Great)

Systemscope returned to GTEC this year on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Thanks to all who joined us for our two informative sessions focusing on collaboration and innovation in an environment of constant change.

Session 1: Innovations from the Systemscope Lounge

During a single session, through a set of fast-paced presentations, Systemscope consultants presented a series of provocative principles that challenged assumptions while providing practical gems to spark your imagination, stir your curiosity and inspire the innovator within. Download individual presentations by title, or download all presentations in one pdf.

Session 2: Preparing for GCDOCS

Systemscope’s Enterprise Information Management professionals gave a rousing presentation to a packed audience on preparing for GCDOCS. Owing to the Directive on Recordkeeping and its 2015 compliance date, departments are hurtling towards EDRMS adoption at a rapid rate without a coherent plan, without being adequately prepared and without knowing what adequate preparation would involve. Is EDRMS a technical tool? An RM tool? or is it the new electronic working environment for the entire enterprise?

The “Info-Lins” of Systemscope explored various EDRMS visions and strategies, what organizations need to know before beginning an EDRMS implementation, common challenges of EDRMS implementation and more. Download Preparing for GCDOCS.

With the amount of transformation currently underway in the Government, it’s no big surprise that Change Management has been a popular topic of conversation. What has been interesting across the sum of these conversations is the wide range of definitions and perceptions about what Change Management is. Here are the 5 most common misconceptions that we are seeing regarding Change Management.

Change Management = Communications: When talking about change management activities within a project, we often discuss which resources are being tasked with leading the CM activities in a transformation project. A common answer is “oh, we have a Comms person on our team already, so change management is taken care of.” It’s a start – constant and consistent communications are critical to any change initiative – but there is more to effectively managing change than communications. Just because you tell people about the change, that doesn’t mean they’re going to do it.

Change Management = Project Management: There is a difference between these two streams of activity and areas of expertise, but it’s not always a distinction that is well understood. Project management is an area of practice that largely focuses on ensuring that the activities and milestones are undertaken in a way that allows a project to be completed on time and on budget. Change Management is more focused on the people side of change, working with all levels of staff to ensure that they are willing and able to make the change. You can hit all of your project milestones, but if the staff in your organization don’t change their actions, will the transformation really be sustained?

Change Management = Checklist of Deliverables: This misconception is sometimes a subset to the previous, where “change management” is a line item in a project plan with a handful of associated deliverables, such as a communications plan and training plan. These deliverables are important to complete and should be used by the project team as a way to guide their actions and communicate plans with others in the organization… but there’s the rub. Far too often the creation of the deliverable is where the activity starts and ends, with good thinking and planning being little more than a tick on a checklist of deliverables. Implementing change successfully is about working closely with those who need to change – the deliverables are but some of the tools that enable this collaboration.

“It’s an IT thing”: Change Management is best known by our clients in IT, while many clients in program areas or business lines often tell us that they don’t need change management because change management “is an IT thing”. The way we see it, change management is about working with the people in an organization to ensure that they not only know about a change initiative and its merits but it’s also about working closely with staff, managers and executives to ensure that everyone is willing and able to make the necessary changes in their skills, actions, behaviours and attitudes.

It’s about the group, not individuals: In large and complex changes, the number of different teams and staff that need to be engaged can be overwhelming. An easy way to short cut some of that work is to aggregate your change management activities – dealing with targeting 3 branches is easier than targeting 1,500 individuals, right? While this can indeed find some efficiencies, it brings risks too. Teams are made of individuals, each with their own challenges and barriers about implementing the change. If these aren’t addressed at an individual level, there is greater risk to having the change successfully implemented. This is even more dangerous to the success of a project when it comes to resistance management – dissent and resistance can ruin a project if left unmanaged. So if you find yourself batching together your CM efforts, never forget that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

If this is what change management is not, then what is change management? Ironically, “all of the above” isn’t a bad place to start. It includes all of what is listed above, just not in isolation. Successfully managing change does indeed require communications and project management, and good documentation goes a long way. It does have a place in IT, but also plays a role in any project where people need to change. It is definitely about teams, but it is also about focusing on the individuals that make up the team.

In addition, though, there are more pieces that are true change management activities that need to be integrated into any change initiative:

Change Characteristics – understanding the size, scope and complexity of the change in order to define concrete steps to mitigate any potential issues or risks

Organizational Attributes – recognizing the organization’s past experiences, organizational tendencies and cultural influences related to change in order to define concrete steps to mitigate any potential issues or risks

Transformation Team – defining the right individuals with the right competencies, and the right relationships to the project team and sponsors to drive the change management efforts in order to define concrete steps to mitigate any potential issues or risks

Sponsorship Team – defining the right individuals with the right competencies, and the right relationships within the organization to effectively sponsor the change in order to define concrete steps to mitigate any potential issues or risks

Risk Assessment – defining the risk levels associated to the project in order to define concrete steps to mitigate any potential issues or risks

Special Tactics – bringing all of the above together in an integrated and highly customized set of special tactics that ensure that people are willing and able to make the change

Change management is about managing the people side of change; not just to complete the project, but to ensure that the people in the organization are willing and able to make the change, and to ensure that the change sticks.

As one of the newest consultants to join the Systemscope team, I can honestly say that I feel as though I am up to my eyeballs in new terminology and acronyms. Mastering this lingo is like learning a new language, and as a consultant one of my roles is to translate, clarifying areas of confusion to ensure that everyone is talking about the same thing. As I have come to understand, one client’s “framework” is another’s “strategy,” “action plan,” etc. One of the key things I have learned in my time at Systemscope is that discussion and setting expectations at the outset of a project – including defining the terminology that will be used in order to ensure we are all “singing from the same hymnal” – is so important.

Having just come through brain surgery, I’ve learned valuable life lessons that can also be applied to change and transformation management.

A little background context – In early January, 2012, I started experiencing problems with my vision and after a series of tests culminating with an MRI in early April, was diagnosed with a pituitary macroadenoma – in layman’s terms, a 4.0 cm benign tumour situated between my brain and my pituitary gland.

The Outcome – On June 4, a neurosurgical team at theOttawaHospital performed the surgery to remove the tumour using a minimally invasive, Endoscopic Endonasal Approach (EEA). The surgery was made more complicated by the fact that the tumour had grown to approximately 4.0 cm in diameter and had to be removed through my nostril via a deviated septum. Despite the complications, the tumour was successfully extracted in one piece and an MRI the next day confirmed that the area was “clean”, setting the foundation for a quick recovery and an excellent long term prognosis.

How I Prepared and What I Learned – When I was initially diagnosed with the tumour and the prospect of a serious surgery, I contacted the renowned sports psychologist Dr. Terry Orlick (www.zoneofexcellence.ca) to ask his advice on how to prepare for this event. Years ago, I had read Terry’s book “In Pursuit of Excellence” which chronicled Terry’s work with athletes and high-performance executives, and we had invited Terry to one of Systemscope’s corporate retreats in 2008 to present and discuss techniques on achieving higher levels of performance.

After a long talk, Terry offered me these three pieces of advice:

Focus on positive outcomes

“Change the channel” and think positive

Lean on your support networks

The advice prepared me well for the surgery, but it also made me think of how this applies readily to any person, or any organization, about to undergo a major event or transformation. Based on my own experience, I would add two additional lessons learned:

Communicate effectively and be persistent

Celebrate success and acknowledge who got you there

Applying the lessons of Brain Surgery to Transformation and Change Management

Let’s examine each of these five areas in more detail:

Focus on positive outcomes – as an engineer, it would have been too easy for me to get caught up in process details: testing, consultations, surgical delays, worrying about things beyond your control etc. Instead, Terry recommended that I focus on positive outcomes – the removal of the tumour, restored eyesight, and re-established quality of life. In organizational transformation and change management, the same technique can be applied – establish a vision of what outcome(s) should result: greater system efficiencies, better service to clients, or increased productivity. Once you set your eye on the outcome and keep it there, you can enhance your enablers for success and minimize any barriers or risks along the way.

“Change the channel” and think positive – this was one of the more creative techniques that Terry taught me and it worked remarkably well. Terry told me to think about picturing a large TV screen in front of me. Whenever negative or worrisome thoughts crept in about the upcoming surgery, he suggested that I simply “switch the channel” to positive, outcome-based thinking. I must admit that my visual depiction of changing the channel literally meant going “old school” and turning a dial on a TV rather than use a remote, but nonetheless, the positive imagery served me well before the operation and again during my recovery phase. Too often and too easily during major change, we embrace a level of negativity or cynicism that can spread like poison and bring down even the most well-planned change management programs. To mitigate this, I believe that the onus must be on each individual throughout the organization to deal with change using positive behaviours that foster a culture of optimism and progression. Feeling down about changes to your organization? Change the channel and look for the positive possibilities.

Lean on your support networks. Terry had reminded me that I was under the care of one of the best neuro-surgeons in the world, a pioneer in the EEA, and in one of the best medical institutions inNorth America. Further, I had an amazingly supportive family and colleagues at work, and a wonderful network of friends I could draw upon through this process. Applying this to organizational transformation, the same can also be said. You’re not alone in change management – seek out the strong and supportive leaders who can make change happen effectively and lean on your colleagues to collectively get you through the transformation.

Communicate effectively and be persistent. Although it may seem obvious that communicating effectively is a basic tenet of dealing with stressful events (and in many cases a foregone conclusion), I never took communication for granted. Apart from the therapeutic value of just talking about my tumour and the surgery, strong and persistent communication with medical practitioners in the days and weeks leading up to the operation left me feeling more comfortable and confident about the event. In organizational transformation and change management, lip service is frequently paid to positive and effective communication, but the actions rarely reflect the intent. This leaves managers and staff confused, anxious and prone to rumour mills, which in turn create a compound effect of negative stress. Rather than turn the communications taps off during times of challenge or change, put a communications framework and strategy in place quickly, and let the messaging flow both ways!

Celebrate success and acknowledge who got you there. In the days following the surgery, I sent thank you cards and flowers to the surgical team and recovery ward nurses. I wrote a letter to the CEO of theOttawaHospital acknowledging the success of the surgery and the professionalism of all staff involved along my journey. I took the time to cite particular individuals who I felt had gone beyond the call of duty. The responses that I received were completely unexpected and articulated increased morale for them and their staff. Executives and managers have to take the same steps during programs of change to recognize and celebrate success at regular intervals (not just at the end) and acknowledge their staff’s contributions. They should cite the Herculean efforts of key individuals and trumpet achievements over all channels.

So there you have it – brain surgery preparation applied to organizational transformation and change management in 5 easy steps! In all seriousness, these tips combined with a strong roadmap of change, communications and engagement strategy, can go a long way to help individuals and organizations prepare for and achieve successful outcomes in times of major challenge and change.

Systemscope has qualified under the Government of Canada’s Temporary Help Services (THS) procurement vehicles for Supply Arrangement and Standing Offer.

THS allows clients to procure professional services up to $400,000 or 48 consecutive weeks, whichever comes first. A call-up/contract can be extended by an additional 24 consecutive weeks but must have the prior approval of PWGSC.

For the THS Standing offer, Systemscope is qualified under these two streams:

The new Systemscope office space will provide a panoply of collaboration opportunities for Systemscope, the centre-piece of which will be the new “Systemscope Lounge”. The idea emerged after last year’s GTEC conference, where the new conference centre offered a space that, while functional, left us feeling more disengaged from our peers and clients.

With the new space, the “Systemscope Lounge” idea suddenly became a permanent reality. The “Systemscope Lounge” has been designated as both a physical space and a branded source for creative ideas and products, where new, creative and provocative thinking could emerge out of the professional practice of the firm. This will allow the firm to maintain its reliable and recognized “brand” but engage with the more “out-there” thinking.

The lounge’s physical presence boasts elegant and timeless leather couches, cowhides stools and rugs reminiscent of the mid-century modern aesthetic that inspires so much design creativity in this age. This informal and creative space will be used by Systemscope staffers and clients alike to surface ideas and truths that are outside-the-box of past and current traditional thinking; ideas that may, or may not, move to the “Systemscope Lab” for their formalization into architectures, models or methodologies.

This approach is also getting another space in virtual reality. With the redesign of the Systemscope Website, the “Ideas Lab” will serve as a virtual platform for any and all good thinking to emerge from communal Systemscope efforts. We’re not just talking current blog posts here. Content ranges from “freshest” thinking to “preserved” classics, and is topped off with the ThoughtMix section, where single images or quick ideas are brought together in a primordial soup of creative thinking.

“It is amazing to think that a physical space could come to embody a theoretical ideal, but this is what we see the new Systemscope Lounge embodying,” says Denis Barbeau, Systemscope Partner and Practice Lead for Strategic Business Consulting. “The Systemscope Lounge is a physical environment in which we and our clients can think aloud, unfettered by the daily reality of what we see and are told are constraints, allowing us to push the boundaries of conventional wisdom to find strategies and tactics that will allow our clients to thrive in these times of transformation.”